In a statistical quirk, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane will all be looking for a first goal or assist in a Premier League match for Liverpool against United in more than 14 hours of football but few would bet against Salah adding to his tally in his current rich vein of form.

Gabriel Jesus is in a slump – he has not found the net in the Premier League since August despite chances to stake his claim in the absence of Sergio Aguero through injury.

Jesus started his City career brightly and was seen as a serious threat to Aguero’s position in the team.

But the signs are that Guardiola does not trust the 21-year-old to deliver at the moment. He has started just four Premier League games this season and Guardiola left him out of the starting 11 against Chelsea last week despite the absence of Aguero.

Arsenal are without a clutch of centre-backs for their trip to second-bottom club Southampton, seeking fresh direction under new manager Ralph Hasenhuttl.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi are suspended after picking up bookings in last week’s 1-0 win against Huddersfield while Konstantinos Mavropanos and Rob Holding are injured.

Club captain Laurent Koscielny could feature even though has been missing from the Premier League since May with a serious Achilles injury.

Mauricio Pochettino enhanced his burgeoning reputation with an impressive 1-1 draw at Barcelona this week as his side reached the Champions League knockouts.

The downside of the success is that the Spurs boss is being linked once again to clubs higher up football’s food chain, specifically Real Madrid and Manchester United.

“It’s no coincidence that every day you read Real Madrid want him or United want him,” Danny Rose told the Guardian ahead of Tottenham’s match against lowly Burnley.

“It’s exactly what he deserves. What he has done here in the last four or five years has been amazing. He has transformed how others think of us outside the club and he has transformed how we think of ourselves and how we approach big games.”